REGULATIONS
Of all-Russian International contest and festival “LIGHT AND COLOUR” City of Yelets, 21-25 August 2024
Organisers: City Administration, Department of Culture of the city of Yelets (Lipetsk Oblast), Interregional Social Charity Foundation “Quality of Life”.
The Festival will be preceded by an online photo contest under the same title.
Contest objectives: to accumulate in a single online space best professional and amateur photos from Russia and abroad, made between January 2022 and March 2024.
Goals of the festival: to set up in Yelets a fully functional platform for the discovery of talented photographers from Russia, CIS and other friendly countries, in order to carry out best photography shows, personal and collective exhibitions, encourage cross-communication, training, and professional exchange between photography professionals and amateurs from Russian regions and friendly countries, enhance tourist attractivity of the city, visual culture of local citizens and their involvement in the art of photography.
Photographers of various artistic genres and different levels of professional qualification are invited to participate in the Contest and the Festival without age or geographical limitations.
Target audience of the Festival: photography professionals, photo artists, photo amateurs, travelers, artists, designers, photography enthusiasts not considering themselves as part of any of the groups above.
Documentary and conceptual photographs are accepted for the contest. In case of documentary photography only minimal computer graphic processing with the use of specialized software is allowed. In case of conceptual art photography all kinds of post-processing and editing are allowed, including collages, but not including the use of AI software (with the exception of special award nomination).
For all the award nominations, except for the special award nomination, both single photos or series of photos can be submitted: the author decides whether to present 5 separate images or one series of 3-5 images.
The Panel of Judges and Contest Organisers reserve the right to select one photo from a series submitted for the Contest.
Only series of photos can be submitted for the special theme contest. While uploading the works the contestant should specify in which order the photos in the series are to be viewed.
CONTEST AWARD NOMINATIONS:
NATURE (flora and fauna, natural phenomena, elements, natural cataclysms)
CITY (sites, places of interest, architecture, monuments, city contrasts, blending styles and time epochs, cityscapes, photo graphics etc.)
PEOPLE (interesting characters, ordinary people, prominent people in politics, social life, culture and art, portraits, self-portraits, everyday life, events, street photo)
OBJECTS (objects, still life, natural still life etc.)
MOVEMENT (fashion, sports, healthy lifestyle, dance, ballet, motion etc.)
RETRO (alternative photography techniques: photogram, cyanotype, ambrotype etc., costumed shooting, historical events reconstruction)
Special theme of the contest: «Home. Family. Customs. Traditions» -- series of 3 to 5 photos
Special award nomination: NEURO IMAGING PHOTOGRAPHY (images created with the use of AI software with obligatory specification of which program was used)
One Contest participant may submit no more than 5 photos (award nomination or list of nominations for separate photos are to be selected by the contest participant).
All submitted photos should be made not earlier than January 2022.
The evaluation of the works submitted for the contest will be a two stage process: 1) selection of finalists and their photos for the exhibition; 2) selection of grand prix winner and award winners in each nomination. The vote will be closed and anonymous: the panel members will not see the names of contestants before the publication of the list of finalists.
The Organisers will undertake the printing and final finishing of the works of the finalists, and issuing the exhibition catalogue.
PANEL OF JUDGES
The international Panel of Judges includes renowned specialists in the field of photography: acclaimed photographers, photo editors, art experts, historians and professors of photography from Russia, CIS and friendly countries.
RULES OF CONTEST PARTICIPATION
The Contest is open for all photography enthusiasts: both professional photographers, and amateurs belonging to different artistic genres and possessing varying levels of qualification without age or geographical limitations.
Each contest participant should register on the contest web-site providing his/her personal information: full name, artistic pseudonym (if any), date of birth, e-mail, phone number, nationality, education, place of residence, and agrees to personal data processing. Then the participant should select the desired nomination and uploads his/her photos, thus confirming: his/her authorship, and acceptance of the rules and conditions of the contest; and granting the organisers non-exclusive right to use his/her works within the framework of the Contest and Festival, including reproduction, publication in open sources and other right of public presentation such as: publication on the Contest and Festival web-sites, partner sites, printing on posters, reproduction in mass media, social networks, Exhibition catalogue and program without payment of royalty fees, but with the obligatory mention of the author’s full name. Territory of the use of rights - whole world. The term of duration – until the author rights expiration.
If any third parties should present their claims, the participants undertake to settle all such claims at their own expense. In case of disputes the organisers have the right to request the source file from the author.
All the photos submitted for the contest should come with an explanation: where, when, on which camera, with what exposure they were made, what the photo depicts; if taken from a larger project, the name and contents of the project should be provided.
File format - JPG with minimal compression, preferably no more than 5 mb, colour scheme sRGB.
By uploading photos for all nominations and special theme (except for special award nomination – NEURO IMAGING PHOTOGRAPHY), the authors confirm that they are holder of author rights for the image uploaded and AI software was not used in its creation. If the author selects the special award nomination – NEURO IMAGING PHOTOGRAPHY – he/she should specify in the file description, which AI software program was used for image creation.
The themes and contents of all the works submitted for the contest must be in accordance with the current laws of the Russian Federation, must not have advertising or erotic content, must not promote violence or include scenes of violence, offend the religious feelings of believers. Images containing watermarks, signatures on the face side, frames around the image, copyright marks, logos or names of known brands and companies, will not be considered in the contest, and the organisers have the right to delete such images without notifying the contest participant.
All the works submitted for the contest will be moderated in order to check their adherence to the rules of the contest, award nomination and the Russian legislation. After moderators approve the submission, the participant will not be able to delete or change the photo, delete or replace the account profile on the web-site.
Upon the publication of stage 1 voting results, the finalists should be ready within the specified timings to send full-size files to be printed out for the exhibition and inserted in the exhibition catalogue.
PRIZES FOR THE CONTESTANTS
One winner will be selected in each nomination, the winner will be awarded with a diploma, memorable (or monetary) prize and exhibition catalogue. The panel of judges can designate one or two more works in each nomination to be awarded the diploma of “honorable mention by the panel of judges”.
Grand prix winner will be selected from the pool of nomination winners, and will be awarded a diploma, monetary or memorable prize.
All the authors, whose works have been selected for the final exhibition, if they or their legal representatives are present at the festival will be awarded memorable diplomas of contest finalists and exhibition catalogues.
FESTIVAL
The aim of the International Festival is to create a single unified showplace of the best advances of modern photography and best representatives of all its creative branches. We invite to participate in the Festival all people related to the art of photography: photography professionals, photo artists, photo amateurs, photo editors, art experts and critics for cross-communication, experience exchange, knowledge acquisition from master specialists in different branches of photography: journalistic, naturalistic, architectural, sports, theatrical, advertising and other types of photography.
The objective is to use the example of Yeletsk and Lipetsk Oblast in order to demonstrate the tourist attraction of small Russian cities and their surroundings, which reflect the richness of Russian history, culture, folk art, traditions, variety of natural scenery, unique flora and fauna.
The Festival program is designed to appeal to a wide range of different age groups, enhance mass involvement and attraction of artistic photography, providing broad audience with the skill of looking and finding multiple meanings in images, teach people visual literacy, journalistic and artistic photography, expose the audience to alternative photography techniques using historical and modern best practices.
RULES OF FESTIVAL PARTICIPATION
Any person interested in learning more about the art of photography and acquiring deeper knowledge in that area, regardless of their age or place of residence, can take part in the Festival.
Festival participants should register online on the project web-site https://www.svet-tsvet.ru and then confirm their registration in person at the Festival staff office upon arrival. Festival participants will have to cover the travel and accommodation expenses at their own cost. Accommodation will be provided in hotels, hostels, halls of residence in the city of Yelets. All the participants will receive badges for free access to all Festival events, copies of Festival program, information on speakers and partners.
CONTEST AND FESTIVAL TIMELINE:
Submission of contest participant applications and works free of charge on the Contest web-site: 25 March – 24 May 2024. Submissions deadline – 24 May at 22.59 Moscow time.
Stage 1 selection by the Panel of Judges: 27 May – 12 June 2024.
List of finalists publication on the Contest web-site, partner sites and social media – no later than 14 June 2024.
Collection of full-size files from the Contest finalists for the Exhibition and catalogue: 14 – 13 June 2024.
Preparation of the Exhibition and catalogue: 14 June – 1 August 2024.
Festival program publication – no later than 1 July 2024.
Online registration of Festival participants – no later than 10 July 2024.
Festival dates: 21 – 25 August 2024.
Festival location: city of Yelets, Lipetsk Oblast, Russia.
